Inventor Dean Kamen Considers Giving Up On Segway

Segway inventor Dean Kamen says he's wrestling with giving up on his personal mobility device, perhaps after reading our "Seven Reasons The Segway Sucks."

When it debuted, the Segway was supposed to start a new revolution in transportation in the same way inventor Dean Kamen's other inventions revolutionize health care. Unfortunately, his other inventions didn't so much revolutionize health care.

Like his other inventions, the Segway's high cost has kept it away from most private citizens, meaning the device is more likely to be seen in the arms of a security officer in Millennium Park than John Smith's garage.

Kamen told CNN it's been rough going:

"You end up lying there saying, 'I'm not stopping. It would be an act of shallow cowardice. Or you decide to quit and you say, 'This is one of those ideas that just isn't going to work,' "

While we've never been moved by the Segway — the novelty wears off after a while — it's worth a shot and could easily be the failed design which gives way to products like the Toyota Winglet — which may someday see success.

[CNN]

Send an email to Matt Hardigree, the author of this post, at matt@jalopnik.com.

publish on Facebook

Upload an image | Add an image URL ×

Image URL: ×

Youtube URL: ×

Choose a file to upload:

×

Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

Loading comments ...

Earlier discussions | Other discussions | Show all discussions | Show featured discussions only | Expand all threads Collapse all threads
Start a new discussion